Republican District Attorney Michael Guest, a candidate for the Third Congressional District seat, waits for precinct worker Cristie Rabalais, right, to hand him his voting voucher as he prepares to cast his ballot in the party primary in Brandon, Miss., Tuesday, June 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)(Photo: Rogelio V. Solis, AP)

Republicans Michael Guest and Whit Hughes are headed to a runoff in the GOP primary for Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District, based on incomplete, unofficial results.

In a crowded field of six Republican candidates and relatively low voter turnout, Guest was leading with 45 percent and Hughes second with 21 percent with 93 percent of precincts reporting from the 24-county district. No candidate receiving more than 50 percent forces a June 26 runoff.

State Rep. Michael "Big Country" Evans of Preston won the Democratic primary early Tuesday night, with the Associated Press calling his race against Navy veteran and police officer Michael Aycox — the state's first openly gay congressional candidate — within two hours of polls closing.

Evans said he's looking forward to the general election but admitted it was an "uphill battle." The seat is expected to remain Republican.

"I feel good about the win tonight. I'm glad my supporters came out but, like I told them, winning is June does good but if you don't win in November, you really ain't accomplished anything," he said. "I think we have a legitimate shot of winning in November. The numbers are there to win we just have to get the numbers out to vote."

A little-known Reform Party candidate, Mathew Holland, is also running in the Nov. 6 general election.

The seat is being vacated by longtime Republican Rep. Gregg Harper who is not seeking re-election.While Harper has not publicly endorsed Guest, Harper did donate to Guest's campaign. Many of Harper's top campaign aides also joined Guest's team.

Businessman Whit Hughes, right, a Republican candidate for the Third Congressional District seat, and his wife Shelley Hughes, thank a group of Madison, Miss., precinct workers for their civic service, Tuesday, June 5, 2018, in Madison, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)(Photo: Rogelio V. Solis, AP)

Although several of the candidates have political experience and some recognition in their home areas, none started the race as a household name district-wide.

However, both Guest and Hughes have ties to the metro area. The final vote count for the area was unknown as of press time.

Guest, 48, currently serves as the District Attorney for Madison and Rankin Counties. He was first elected to the position in 2008, after 12 years as an Assistant District Attorney. In addition to his position as DA, Guest is the President of the Foundation for Rankin County Public Schools and serves on the board of the state and central Mississippi Crime Stoppers, according to his campaign.

Tuesday night, Guest said he intended on "crunching the numbers" and looking at the counties to see where he performed well and where he performed poorly.

"We are going to try to see what we can do to see that, throughout the runoff, we are getting the support we need from all 24 counties throughout this district," he said. "We're going to continue to crunch those numbers and see what we need to to have another good showing in the runoff."

Hughes, 42, of Madison, is a former Mississippi State University basketball star who served as former Gov. Haley Barbour's finance chairman in his 2003 gubernatorial campaign. He has since served as deputy director of the Mississippi Development Authority, then created his own business and development consulting firm.

Hughes said Tuesday night he was "looking forward to the days and weeks ahead" and would continue to be "very consistent with the way we've run this campaign from the beginning."

He acknowledged Guest's lead but said he was up for the challenge.

"I've been an underdog my whole life," he said. "Whether you're talking about SEC athletics or in business or life in general. I relish a role like this. I'm going to get out there and work my tail off just like I have to this point in the campaign. This is a new ballgame."

Over $1.2 million was funneled into the race, with Guest and Hughes bringing in the most in campaign donations.

While Parker initially had a larger war chest-helped by a $240,000 contribution to his own campaign-by May, his fundraising efforts had fallen behind Hughes and Guest.

At the end of May, Hughes led the pack in fundraising with $430,577, giving him a financial edge against Guest, who raised $396,411.

In what has been one of the friendliest Congressional races in recent history, none of the campaigns ran negative ads against the others.

For the last 11 weeks, the Hughes campaign has been doing TV ads in the Meridian and Jackson markets, and he has a strong digital/social media presence. The campaign declined to say the amount of money spent on advertising, but campaign manager William Burns told the Clarion Ledger last week, "we think we've invested and put the right amount of money forward to put our name out there."

The Michael Guest for Congress YouTube page debuted its first ad on April 12 and his campaign had significant advertising for the race. The Guest campaign declined to say when they started running ads and the markets, citing campaign policy.

In Mississippi's other contested U.S. House primary, incumbent Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo won his primary in his bid to seek a fifth term. He faces Democratic state Rep. Jeramey Anderson of Moss Point and Reform Party candidate LaJena Sheets of Hattiesburg in the Nov. 6 general election.